Day 3 of Blogrimage, today was a bit of a busier day... but definitely one of the better days thus far. Espicially since it was 65 and sunny today, had a wonderful meeting with my Pastor and then say around a park bench with some of my closest friends and mentors drinking Orange Fanta and eating Pizza... You don't get much better than that!
As for today's work on the memoir, the chapter I read through was called "Again". It dealt with the author of this book sharing a experience she had when she wrote a book about her father and a teacher of hers that she considered a great mentor... in short order, people were hurt and offended.
So much so that she didn't write for 8 months because of the pain that she felt, by these people shunning her when she wrote the book in honor of the memories of these two people who were very close to her.
She goes on to say that sometimes, you are not ready to reveal some of the things that you have written down; the secrets, the hurts and the fears. And that that is ok, but it's better to get them on a page in a notebook somewhere and bury the book, then to have these secrets "pollute" everything that you write. For secrets will try to come to the surface at any occasion given, for when they are left alone, not looked at, not faced, not written... "your secrets can only haunt you."
What did I take away with this, that even though I may have memories or secrets that I may have in my life, it is better to have them written down somewhere and for me to decided if and when, those things should come to the forefront, then for them to sulk in the back of my mind day in and day out...
With that being said, I moved on to the next chapter to see what it had to say, what writings challenges it would have to offer, it gave me this; "What's in Front of You."
It talked about how, when your stuck at your writing desk, coffee shop or wherever you go to write, its usually better to start writing about something: What's in front of you? What's behind you? What do you see?, then to simply stare at a blank piece of paper (or a blinking cursor for the more tech savy). As we write about the things in front of us; "a table with with a lamp thats sitting before an open window to a cool summer breeze" etc. etc., we then make correlations in our memories with the things that we see; "this table reminds me of the time I went to my uncle's and discovered my first taste of a deep splinter..."
This practice can help us in those times when nothing seems to come to mind... just start by writing what you see... So, without further ado:
What's in Front of You
Try it. Ten minutes. (If no memory comes, then you get good practice in noticing the physical details around you.)
What's in front of me? A coffee table with four glass panes, sitting on a hard-wood floor. Hours of prayer and study poured into pores, now slowly releasing the wealth that it has gathered from father's hearts and Spirit of Wisdom downloads.
I remember Pastor Brett, how often times he would sit us down and tell us things that would make our heads spin about government, wisdom, widows & orphans free masonry & quarter dollars...
My head would be at a loss, my tongue tied and hearing a language that was foreign to my ears... but yet, he would pulled aside and say, "Did not our hearts burn for the words that we have heard."
And he was right, there was truth in what he said.
Though my intellect could not grasp the things in front of me, my heart burned, it desired to know right, to know this wisdom whose house was so highly built. And what things would be unlocked when what I knew in my heart was true, caught up to my understanding.
I have in front of me, many objects that would collect in a bachelor's house of five; two glasses, one hand-made mug, one mac-book pro, one half gone pepsi can, a sketch book, a set of keys, 3 poker chips, a bottle of ibuprofen, an empty plate with two pizza crusts, two books ("A place of my own" by Michael Pollan & "Drawing from life: The Jou
rnal as Art"), another set of keys, one wallet and my new favorite hat that I bought three weeks ago at Target for $15 after a 3 month search and even longer desire...
Time's up! Title for tomorrow, "Outside".
Let me know how everyone likes this! Any thoughts, ideas or improvements to the blog would be great to read. See you guys tomorrow.
-Eric Alan
4 comments:
I really love this stuff you're going through in the book. You're a good writer too. How did I not know this side of you before?
I guess we never sat down and talked about what we liked to do Pradeep. Funny thing is, right before I found out that you were going to leave I was going to ask if you wanted to get coffee sometime, but then time got away from me and off you were to Korea
Eric! Reading this makes me miss you all the more . . . I'm loving this! So awesome to here . . . I used to do the "what's in front of you" activity all the time for a creative writing class . . . it was always awesome and a great way to get your brain juices flowing. My favorite was free writing though - just write the first thing that comes to your mind. It's a great practice but rather challenging as well if your brain moves faster than your fingers :-) Maybe I should switch my blog to free writing? It's be easy, that's for sure! Miss you friend!
BTW - LOVE the hat - you definitely would have found it sooner if you lived in Korea :-)
Post a Comment